Post by AREA666 on Jun 8, 2008 21:14:21 GMT -5
So I know this is going to turn into more of a rant than a normal conversation since this is a hot topic and all, but what I am wanting here is to find out how much the price increases REALLY affect people? Like I know we all look at the 4+ dollar signs and probably cringe, but I do not wish to talk about the reason for why they are high, we can do that in another thread if we want, but I am just wondering who here is actually affected by this? Like think about it this way. You go out and fill up your car and the price of gas is, for simplicity, a nice 4 dollars a gallon, and you have a 10 gallon tank to fill, so your bill comes to 40. Now lets suppose that 2 weeks down the line you need to fill up again and the what seems to be typical, at least for me around here, 10 cents a gallon price increase occurs and it now costs 4.20 a gallon. Well now it costs you 42 to fill up. So what I am wondering is that is anybody so constrained on a budget that a 2 dollar increase is affecting them to the point of induced poverty, or are people only always complaining about the price of gas because it is a popular and easy thing to do and they really just have no understanding of why it increases?
For me here I have a Ford Explorer, and if I fill my tank up to the point where it is overflowing from the cap, which I like to do, I can put in about 24 gallons, so for me a price increase of 10 cents can be a 2.40 increase over the last one, but I mean come on, I can find 2.40 on the ground if I look enough in the few weeks in between filling up. The only way I tend to think of how it sucks to pay for gas is if I think of large increases, like how back in 99 or so I could have paid 88 cents a gallon, but that is almost 10 years ago, so the average increase per month to get to the price now is minor, but yes it does all add up.
If you look at charts that take in inflation, the way gas prices are increasing now look very similar to how it did in the late 70's and early 80's, but then after the increasing the prices went back down sharply too. Could this happen again? I do not know, but I do know that history tends to repeat itself, so everybody should take note of that. Here is a chart...
www.inflationdata.com/Inflation/images/charts/Oil/Gasoline_inflation_chart.htm
I know that some people drive a lot, but even if you need to fill up like twice a week or so it just seems that maybe there is a difference of like 40 or so a month, although if the increases happen so much that each month there is a difference of 40 or so I can see that quickly add up, but I would think that the vast majority of people do not drive enough to need gas so often. Maybe everybody is just jumping on the bandwagon or something though, and that small percentage of people who need gas so often that it actually affects their budget, income, profits, etc, are just being represented by the population as a whole.
Lastly, and just for a fun note, everybody should be happy they do not have to pay the prices in Sierra Leone, and can wish to live in Venezuela. Just go down to the chart with the prices and have it sort from high to low pricing.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_usage_and_pricing
For me here I have a Ford Explorer, and if I fill my tank up to the point where it is overflowing from the cap, which I like to do, I can put in about 24 gallons, so for me a price increase of 10 cents can be a 2.40 increase over the last one, but I mean come on, I can find 2.40 on the ground if I look enough in the few weeks in between filling up. The only way I tend to think of how it sucks to pay for gas is if I think of large increases, like how back in 99 or so I could have paid 88 cents a gallon, but that is almost 10 years ago, so the average increase per month to get to the price now is minor, but yes it does all add up.
If you look at charts that take in inflation, the way gas prices are increasing now look very similar to how it did in the late 70's and early 80's, but then after the increasing the prices went back down sharply too. Could this happen again? I do not know, but I do know that history tends to repeat itself, so everybody should take note of that. Here is a chart...
www.inflationdata.com/Inflation/images/charts/Oil/Gasoline_inflation_chart.htm
I know that some people drive a lot, but even if you need to fill up like twice a week or so it just seems that maybe there is a difference of like 40 or so a month, although if the increases happen so much that each month there is a difference of 40 or so I can see that quickly add up, but I would think that the vast majority of people do not drive enough to need gas so often. Maybe everybody is just jumping on the bandwagon or something though, and that small percentage of people who need gas so often that it actually affects their budget, income, profits, etc, are just being represented by the population as a whole.
Lastly, and just for a fun note, everybody should be happy they do not have to pay the prices in Sierra Leone, and can wish to live in Venezuela. Just go down to the chart with the prices and have it sort from high to low pricing.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_usage_and_pricing